Good News! Nanosolar Reaches Solar Cell Efficiency of 16.4% and Starts Mass Production

Photos: NanosolarCheap, Efficient Solar Cells You Can PrintFor a while, everybody was talking about Nanosolar. They were the Tesla Motors of solar panels, in a way. But for the past year, they've kept quiet and this led some people to doubt that the company really would be able to deliver on what it had promised. Was it all hype? Well, Nanosolar has now broken radio silence and the news is good. They've simultaneously released information about three things, along with a very cool video (check it out below) that shows what the inside of their factories look like, including the brand new one in Germany.Photo: NanosolarNanosolar 640MW Robotic Factory in GermanyThe first piece of news from Nanosolar concerns a solar panel factory in Germany with a capacity of 640MW/year. The fully-automated facility is located in Luckenwalde near Berlin, and its inauguration was attended by Germany's Minister of the Environment and the Governor of the State of Brandenburg, among others.

The 640 megawatts per year number if reached when the factory is operated 24/7 at the rate of 1 solar panel every 10 seconds (!). Nanosolar has also announced that serial production in its San Jose, California, cell production factory commenced earlier this year and that production would be ramping up to meet the $4.1 billion in contracts that they already have.

Here's a promo video by Nanosolar that shows - among others things - the "continuous flow printing process", the robotic factory in Germany, and even a jar of the famous nanoparticle solar ink: